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A blog that looks behind the scenes at how we bring our mission to life, every day

Fiona Haley ‹ We are EF

When Vanessa started university, she was studying to become a psychologist. Just after she turned 20, she backpacked through Europe and took a walking tour of Berlin for 15 euros that changed her life. On the tour she noticed a museum with marks on the walls, which the tour guide explained were representations of Soviet bullet holes from World War II.
“Suddenly, the past was part of the present,” she said. “Of course I knew about the world wars, but here was something physical that connected me to that. It was my ‘aha!’ moment. I came home filled with a new kind of energy and enrolled in every history course I could get my hands on––even ended up with a history minor.”
The walking tour ignited a spark that changed the trajectory of her life forever. When she was looking for jobs after graduation, she knew she could follow logic or passion.
Though she was interested in psychology, she never felt the same passion she had for history or travel. She typed “travel” into the job search field on monster.com and found <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/">EF Education First</a>.
“I walked in the door at EF Toronto and found my people,” she said. “We all shared a similar story and the firm belief that more people should have the chance to find their passion and that travel can help you find it. They offered me the job that night and I never looked back.”
It’s been nearly 10 years since Vanessa started working at EF, and she has held numerous roles throughout her tenure. She began as a Tour Consultant in 2010, moved to the Montreal office for a year, returned to Toronto and worked for the Customized Itineraries team and spent six years on the Emergency & Incident Response team.
In 2017 she returned right back where she started at <a href="https://www.eftours.ca/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=EFBrand&utm_content=vanessa_ef_journey">Educational Tours Canada</a> (ETCA) but this time as a Product Manager for the Educational Programming team.
As a Product Manager for Educational Tours Canada, Vanessa’s role is to provide educational tours for young people traveling abroad. She says that 80% of her job is managing the historical events portfolio, which organizes tours for students, educators and military cadet groups to visit meaningful sites connected to the students’ curriculum or the cadets’ historical regiment.
Most of the tours immerse students in the history of Canada’s involvement in the world wars. She also helped organize specific tours like the 75th anniversary of D-Day this year, which involved sending large groups of Canadian and American students to Normandy to attend official ceremonies.
Though Vanessa never expected to stay at EF for 10 years, she finds it difficult to imagine leaving because she truly loves the work environment. “There is a certain type of person EF looks for––for any role, whether it’s entry level or CFO,” she explained.
“They always have the same things in common: a passion for people and an eagerness to collaborate, to reach new goals and to innovate in an atmosphere that’s fun, but professional. People here continue to develop. It’s okay if you make a mistake, but let’s learn from them and not make them again. Let’s keep building instead of feeling badly.”
It’s not lost on Vanessa that she’s been able to spend her professional career sparking other people’s passion in the same way hers was inspired.
“In a world where people lack understanding of each other, being able to travel to other places, to see how people live, what their life is in a very different place helps––not only tolerance, but connecting with the greater world outside the bubble,” she explained.
“What better thing is there than facilitating other people having those moments? I always come back to my own ‘why’––all this hard work will lead to one more young person feeling that awakening.”

Meet Vanessa, Product Manager for EF Educational Tours Canada and learn how she's spent the last 10 years of her career sparking students' passions through educational travel. This is her EF journey.

Discovering her passion: Vanessa’s EF journey - We are EF

Discovering her passion: Vanessa’s EF journey ‹ We are EF

Discovering her passion: Vanessa’s EF journey

Vanessa ef journey

Kristen, or Bev as she’s known by her colleagues across the office, began her journey with <a href="https://www.ef.com">EF Education First</a> in 1993 as a Tour Consultant for <a href="https://www.eftours.com/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=EFBrand&utm_content=bev_ef_journey">EF Educational Tours</a>. 
Introduced to EF by a friend, a 23-year-old Bev faxed her resume over and came to interview at the then One Memorial Drive location in Boston. 
When she arrived she was awestruck by the people and the positivity that exuded from EF staff all around her. “It felt like an extension of college! I am still best friends with my start group. We grew up together at EF,” she said.  
And that was just the beginning of Bev’s several year long stretch with Educational Tours where she not only grew her career but her exposure to the world.  
 
“I never traveled internationally before EF,” Bev said. “So to have my passport overflowing with 20 countries before I turned 30 was simply incredible.” 
 
But when Bev was ready to start a family in 2000, she took a step away from EF for nearly two decades. During those 17 years she raised her kids, started (and ran) her own event planning business and worked for two other companies doing sales. 
It wasn’t until Bev’s son left for college that something clicked. There was no question where she would go when she was ready to return to full-time work. 
“EF shaped me personally and professionally,” she said. “The only company I could see myself happy, challenged and fulfilled at was EF. The caliber, energy and can-do attitude of this mission-based company have not changed over the past 27 years. If anything – it’s only gotten better!” 
 
Today, Bev leads her own team of passionate Tour Consultants as a Director of Sales for Educational Tours at EF’s North American headquarters in Boston. Together, Bev and her team get students and teachers out of the classroom and into the world.
“We truly change the trajectory of students’ lives,” she explained. “We believe that we are making a positive impact on society. We create a global classroom to have students become global citizens––they have a better understanding of different countries, they are empathetic, more appreciative of diversity and of different cultures.”
With Bev’s work ethic and commitment to the EF mission aside, if you ask her what she’s most proud of, she’ll tell you one thing: her team. 
“I work with an incredible team who give their positive energy, passion, and can-do attitude each and every day,” she said. “Watching my team succeed has been the most rewarding part of my job. The professional and personal development I have witnessed from when a Tour Consultant starts to when they are promoted to a Senior Tour Consultant is astounding.” 
Having worked at EF (twice) and for different companies, Bev knows a good thing when she sees it and wants other people to understand that EF’s supportive culture is a rarity.  
 “Even people who come to interview wonder if there’s something in the air because we’re all smiling and laughing. We all work really, really hard but we want to work harder because of the type of environment we’ve been offered,” she explained.  
Bev’s return proved to be a great decision and in her own words makes her EF’s “oldest and proudest boomerang.” 
“The culture and caliber of the company are exactly the same from 27 years ago,” she said. “It energizes me every day to be working in this environment. Even if things are difficult, you have support from your colleagues, with energy and positivity coming in.”

Having worked at EF (twice), Bev knows a good thing when she sees it. Meet Bev, Director of Sales for EF Tours, and find out why she thinks EF’s supportive company culture stands head and shoulders above the rest. This is her EF journey.

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Fiona Haley

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